We testified about the Department of Homeland Security’s efforts to ensure equal opportunity in employment at DHS. For example, DHS uses things like employee surveys to help identify potential barriers and reported some improvements in representation of minorities and women from FY 2014 through 2017. However, it lacks performance metrics for tracking its progress. Last year, we made 6 recommen...

The State Department has expressed a commitment to building a workforce that reflects the diverse composition of the United States. Though State's workforce has grown more diverse, racial or ethnic minorities are still underrepresented, particularly in the senior ranks. Racial or ethnic minorities in State’s Civil Service were 4% to 29% less likely to be promoted than their white coworkers wit...

This is an e-supplement to GAO-16-62. It presents the results from GAO's survey of 57 senior CFPB executives as of January 31, 2015. A total of 36 senior executives responded to our executive survey for a response rate of 63 percent. GAO excluded responses to demographic and open-ended narrative questions...

Nonexecutive employees at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) who responded to GAO's survey identified strengths and areas for improvement in CFPB's personnel practices and culture. Most respondents agreed that enthusiasm for CFPB's mission is high and that immediate supervisors respect and value differences among individuals. However, GAO's survey found heightened concerns related to...

The United States Coast Guard's (USCG) Civil Rights Directorate's (CRD) principal functions are to provide Equal Opportunity (EO) services to its approximately 50,000 active duty military, and Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) services to its 8,000 civilian employees. We reported in April 2010 that CRD had taken action to help resolve its management challenges, such as dissatisfaction among USCG...

The Chairmen of the Senate and House Committees on the Judiciary asked GAO to determine (1) the extent of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights' compliance with the requirements of the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) of 1993, (2) what federal oversight is provided to the Commission, and (3) the status of the implementation of recommendations from GAO's past reviews of the Commission.Th...

The federal government faces large losses in its Senior Executive Service (SES), primarily through retirement but also because of other normal attrition. This presents the government with substantial challenges to ensuring an able management cadre and also provides opportunities to affect the composition of the SES. In a January 2003 report, GAO-03-34, GAO estimated the number of SES members who w...

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Department of Agriculture's (USDA) efforts to process discrimination complaints, focusing on the: (1) timeliness and ability of USDA's Office of Civil Rights (OCR) to process employment discrimination complaints; and (2) reasons for delays in the implementing GAO's previous recommendations.GAO noted that: (1) a number of long-standing problems...

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO responded to congressional questions regarding GAO's testimony on the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) complaint process for federal employees, focusing on: (1) whether minorities are placed in positions that are "dead end employment tracks;" (2) whether GAO studied the Navy's Pilot Dispute Resolution Program, which is used to resolve EEO complaints; (3)...

This publication supersedes AIMD-98-21.2.3, Personnel-Payroll System Checklist: Systems Reviewed Under the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act of 1996 (Exposure Draft), December 1997. GAO published a functional requirements document to assist: (1) agencies in implementing and monitoring their human resources and payroll systems; and (2) management and auditors in reviewing their human res...